Crossing Rivers
by adriadewinter
Summary: Mulan and Aurora have traveled further north in their search for Phillip and have arrived at a river they must cross. Both consider their emotions as they find a way to cross the river.


**Author's Note: **So I didn't really like where my writing was and this is my attempt to do some better stuff. Hope yall like it.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own them. They'd do a lot more … fun stuff if I did.

Mulan walked along the trail, Aurora trailing behind her. They unconsciously had moved closer than their usual few paces apart due first to the cold, but now both found the distance comfortable. With the distance between them only about a pace, Mulan was able to easily turn to help Aurora and she had the added benefit of being able to hear every sound the princess made as she walked behind the warrior. Little did Mulan know that Aurora also enjoyed being this close to her friend, being able to watch her skilled feet navigate the broken forest floor, her shoulder muscles flex even through her armor as she moved a branch, her hair blow out of the golden clasps with a strong gust of wind.

The silence between them was new—most of their time travelling was spent talking. The rushing river they were walking by had long since made any attempts to speak useless, and still they were unable to find a suitable place to wade across the rippling, rushing barrier. They had been walking along the river since mid-day, and the sun was now beginning its downward arc. It gleamed at them angrily as if resentful of its impending fate, a blazing orb filling the remaining day with its dying light

A suitable location to cross the river caught Mulan's eye, and she paused, raising her hand to halt Aurora. The princess waited, looking over Mulan's shoulder before shudders from the cold shot across her body, and she held her arms close to her chest rubbing her hands over them. Her teeth wanted to chatter as well, but Aurora forced her mouth to stay half-way open, not wanting Mulan of all people to see her give in to the cold. However, like nervous rabbits, her hands and feet kept moving to help keep her warm.

While Mulan kept scanning the river, the shivers that Aurora was trying so hard to conceal did not go unnoticed by the warrior's ever watchful eye. She berated herself fiercely as she wished that she had not allowed the princess to tell her that she was fine a few hours ago. Had they stopped then, they could have camped for the night, but now the only source of wood was on the other side of the water, and it would be dark long before they returned to the shelter of that hollow. Yet again more misgivings filled her as she examined their crossing better. The river was too deep for the princess to cross without being completely soaked by the ice cold water. Unless…

Mulan turned to the now blue-in-the-lips princess. She looked down at her cold friend, the determined expression turning to pity and sorrow as she scanned Aurora. Her once beautiful dress was now in tatters, the mud caked along the bottom hem and splattered all the way up to the princess' knees. The material, never very warm, was now much thinner, and she could see the princess' leggings through the fabric. The shawl was of little use any more as it had become so torn like an injured butterfly, yet Aurora still wrapped it tight around her body, but Mulan could see from the princess' red cheeks that she needed to be warm and soon.

The sad state of her friend only served to make up Mulan's mind even further. She wished that they were not on this journey for Phillip, that she had the right to keep Aurora warm by being close to her, or that they never had had to journey this far north in the first place. _I did offer her my cloak_ she reminds herself, but guilt fills her mind as she thinks _perhaps I should have pressed harder for her to take it… or not given her the choice to turn it down. Gaaaah! Why does she have to be so stubborn all the while?_

As Mulan struggled with her mistaken choices, Aurora stood and watched her friend closely. Mulan was obviously making a difficult decision, yet the princess wished she would share her burden of leadership a little more. _I feel so helpless out here. Without her help, I would never have made it this far, and even now I am holding her back… _Even as she tried still harder to steel herself from the cold, arms wrapping around her chest yet tighter, pulling her tattered cloak closer, her very legs gave Aurora away, and she collapsed slightly before righting herself.

Jumping over, Mulan took Aurora's hands and pulled them up, forcing the princess to look her in the eyes. Then slowly, deliberately, she took the gloves off of her hands and put them over Aurora's ice cold, shaking hands. She struggled and protested as she realized what Mulan was doing, but the warrior held her grip firm until the princess was still.

"Aurora, just wear them, please? Your hands are freezing, and the gloves will help keep you warm as I carry you across."

The princess looked up at the warrior in shock. _What is this "carrying" she just spoke of? _Even after Phillip rescued her, he had at least let her walk on her own. Aurora took a step back and her knees gave out again. Even so, she tried to protest, begging for time, and waving away Mulan's concerned arms and glances.

"I think I can walk across a little river on my own thank you, Mulan. I just need a little rest." Mulan stepped closer and, ignoring Aurora's feeble attempt to brush her off, began to take off her boots and leather pants. Were she to sit out all night in the pouring down snow and freezing rain, Aurora could not have frozen stiller as in that moment. Her hands clutched convulsively at the dress around her knees, and she bit the inside of her lip as she did her best to keep her eyes on Mulan's face. The task she found difficult on normal day became even more so when Mulan's bare legs were standing right in front of her, and Aurora blushed at the thoughts running through her head.

She began to protest again when Mulan re-laced her boots and tied them so tightly that air itself could not reach her feet. Dreams of Mulan carrying her, perhaps away from some terrible ordeal, had been more common in her sleep nowadays than before—a fact that both confused and terrified the princess. She knew she wanted to be nearer to Mulan in ways that were unacceptable by the laws of the land, and if she allowed Mulan to carry her, especially in that state, she might just go mad. "Mulan, I assure you that I am capable of caring for myself. I can walk across the river on my own—you do not have to carry me as I were a child!"

Mulan stepped forward and leaned down only inches from Aurora's face and the shivering girl had never seen such ferocity in the warrior's eyes—except perhaps when Cora had locked them into the cell. Her hands shook but she held the warrior's gaze as Mulan spoke. "Then stop acting like one and let me carry you! You're freezing and barely have the strength to stand, much less wade across the river carrying your portion of our supplies. If I let you go you are only going to get colder than you are now and you may fall into the water—losing our supplies, drenching yourself, and potentially getting hurt or worse into the bargain. Now, please, let me help you."

While Mulan had begun with ferocity and fervor, her voice lowered and cracked a little as she mentioned Aurora falling, and when she spoke her final words, they were almost a whisper. Her eyes glistened as if they were made of many tiny crystals, and she took Aurora's cold hands in hers as she pleaded. The princess shut her eyes and dropped her head, defeated. She stood up and looked into those glistening hazel eyes while she nodded her head, hands still twitching occasionally as she did her best not to look down.

"All-right then! Take this, and these as I carry you. Once we get across, will you start a fire? I'll bring the rest of our gear in the second trip." As she spoke, Mulan passed Aurora the items and then rested both her arms on the princess' shoulders, rubbing her fingertips up and down as she looked into her eyes. Aurora looked down at the two bundles Mulan had shoved into her arms; one contained the clothes and armor Mulan had just removed while the other was the tinderbox. She nodded again and Mulan swooped her up into her arms and stepped into the water.

As Mulan stepped forward into the water, Aurora wrapped her arms around Mulan's neck, unintentionally smelling the citrus scent that Mulan always seemed to carry. She paled, worried that Mulan had noticed the smile on her face, but Mulan was too busy watching her footwork to ensure that she did not slip with that most precious of cargos in her arms. As Mulan fully entered the water, the force of the river became clear to the now clinging princess as, childlike, she clung to her protector.

The water reached up to Mulan's waist, soaking the bottom of the long undershirt she still wore and turning her a little as she took each step. Despite the fact that she could not look at the princess, Mulan never stopped talking to her. "Halfway now. Just a little further. OH! Hold on! Ok better now. A few more steps…"

Right before they reached halfway, Aurora could no longer maintain her strict self-control, and she allowed herself the thing she had wanted most dearly since Mulan had picked her up. She stared down at Mulan, studying her face, how each expression or word was formed, how she bit her tongue a little when she concentrated on a particularly slippery step, and most of all her soft, but oh so tightly pursed lips. _Oh I wish I could just-NO. None of that now. She can never know this. Ever. Now remain calm and look away-NOT down. Just, just look forward. Yeah and look for a place to make a fire._

As Aurora struggled with her treacherous thoughts and began to look more often towards the shore, Mulan herself was having a very serious debate. Being able to carry the princess like this was like she'd never dreamed, and she desired more than anything to have an excuse to pull the girl closer to herself. To bury her head in Aurora's hair and smell that scent she had yet to recognize, but seemed to float around the princess like a halo. She longed to pull the princess' head up, closer and closer until… Aiye! She looked down as the water pushed off from her side and splashed up onto her back. Thoughts momentarily set aside, Mulan hurried the last few steps to the opposing shore and set the princess down.

Aurora rushed to collect all the wood in reach, squirrel-like in her search, and readied the fire as Mulan sloshed back to the other side of the river. Though she had pretended not to notice, Aurora had felt Mulan's hand shake as the warrior had steadied her on shore, and she knew that despite her strong front, the warrior was chilled to the bone. Using the skills she had been able to hone in the last few weeks, Aurora had a fire built, not quite blazing, and was gathering more wood when Mulan collapsed beside her, shivering from head to toe.

The princess reached over and threw a blanket onto her cold friend who took it and wrapped it around herself nodding in thanks and shivering uncontrollably. She scooted closer to the fire and pulled the blanket tighter around her so only her head and the tips of her fingers were showing. Looking at her concernedly, Aurora began to notice a wet ring forming around her friend and she reprimanded the still shivering warrior.

"Mulan you need to take your wet things off now otherwise the blanket will do you little good." She passed her one near herself before continuing, "here, take this too, and take your undershirt and clothes off so I can dry them for you." The princess blushed as she thought of Mulan in nothing but the blankets, but she turned herself away as she set up a rack to dry the clothes next to the fire. Mulan was too cold to think, so she just did what Aurora told her and passed the soaked clothes to her friend once they were off.

Mulan continued shivering by the fire, so cold that the removal of her wet clothes did little to abate the chill that filled her to the bones. Aurora sat concernedly across from her friend, her hands fidgeting again as she realized that Mulan was not warming up as she should be. Mulan looked up when Aurora lifted up her hands and brought them crashing down next to the sides of her dress.

"Isn't there anything else I can do? You are freezing because of me, and I feel so, so powerless to help you. Help me Mulan, please?"

Mulan looked up, knowing that the princess would be startled and most likely affronted by her answer, but she was so cold that she decided to risk it. Before she answered she bit her lip which was cold enough that she did not feel her teeth. Aurora stood there, still fiddling with her hands and watching Mulan as her protector's eyes glanced side to side before answering. "When I was in the army, we fought a battle in the mountains, and some of the soldiers on watch got so cold that their fingers and toes began to fall off. The only way to warm them up was to wrap another person up next to them."

"Well that's easy enough!' Aurora smiled and picked up the other blanket as she moved to sit next to Mulan. The princess stopped and turned her head to the side as Mulan began shaking hers. "What's wrong?"

"You have to be under the blanket with me for it to work." Mulan gave a wry grin as Aurora paused, but the princess shook her head and stepped closer again, teeth set.

"Well, let me in then." Mulan looked up at the princess, mouth open in shock for a moment, but she shut it quickly to prevent her head from cooling further.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course!" Aurora indignantly responded as she tugged at an edge of Mulan's blanket. "You carried me across and have protected me from the day we met. You gave me my heart back, Mulan, and this," She waved her hands back and forth in front of her as she spoke. "This is nothing compared to what you've done for me." She choked up at this, and instead of talking further, sat next to Mulan who enveloped her in the blanket.

Aurora wrapped her arms around her protector, keenly aware of Mulan's bare skin as she did her best to not think about what she was doing. The warrior's skin was ice-like—cold, smooth, and hard under her fingertips, and she recoiled a little in surprise. Mulan looked at her, worry etched on her face, and Aurora felt shame at her actions. She pulled Mulan to her, ignoring the cold that her friend's form held this time, and Mulan rested her head on Aurora's shoulder as she in turn wrapped her arms around the other girl.

Both remained still for the next few minutes—except for a few shivers from Mulan as she grew warmer. Aurora was terrified of moving; her hands itched to wander every inch of Mulan's perfect body, and she knew that if she started, she might never be able to stop. Once Mulan's clothes were dry and her body had almost returned to normal, Aurora started to stand up, but, confused, Mulan kept the nervous girl seated.

"What's wrong?"

Aurora pursed her lips, unsure and worried about how her friend would respond, but she trusted Mulan. Taking a deep breath, she turned her head to face Mulan's as they remained huddled under the blanket. _Oh bad idea, _she thought as she found Mulan's face just inches from her own, and her eyes dropped to the warrior's lips. Noting the princess' eye movement, Mulan's own grew wider, and she drew her breath in quickly. Sharply. She could practically taste the scent Aurora always held, but she was too excited for the moment to care.

"You… you care? Like, like…" the warrior paused, unsure of her words, and instead of continuing, simply leaned forward and softly pressed her lips to Aurora's soft, warm ones before pulling back. "Like that?"

Joy filled Aurora's eyes as she looked back at the warrior. The one she had thought could never care for her, who would despise her for her thoughts, had just kissed her. A bright light passed over her face as she realized what this meant, and she smiled as she responded. "Yes. Like that."

**A.N. And there I must stop because A) I have no idea what I would do next, and B) this was really more of an exercise for me to change how I write. If you like it or think it's better (or worse) than stuff I've done before, please let me know. I love hearing from people. :)**


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